Five major buy- and sell-side institutions have thrown their hat into the ring to jointly explore the establishment of a consolidated tape for equities and ETFs.
Barclays, BlackRock, Crédit Agricole CIB, Société Générale and UniCredit have confirmed their intention to explore the creation of a user-governed model just months after a group of European exchanges confirmed they too had plans to collaborate to develop an application for an equities tape.
The buy- and sell-side collaborative project will now assess the best-positioned technology and providers to launch a pre- and post-trade equity consolidated tape service.
Read more – European exchanges to collaborate on consolidated tape for equities
As part of next steps, the buy- and sell-side group have confirmed they have approached the European exchange group initiative announced on 16 February to explore the possibility of collaborating on a strategic project.
Plans for a pre- and post-trade consolidated tape model are set to be debated by the European Parliament, European Commission and the Council of the European Union in the process of Trilogue next week, commencing on Tuesday, as part of a wider overhaul of Mifid II regulation in Europe.
The consolidated tape has become one of the most divisive and political issues in the industry, in particular whether or not to include pre-trade data.
As part of a joint statement Barclays, BlackRock, Crédit Agricole CIB, Société Générale and UniCredit confirmed that they support the current proposals to include pre-trade data and will reach out to the legislator to share this view.
More to follow…